By Lisa Nicks, Night Luminaries, Lake Jackson, Texas

On Sunday, June 2nd, my dad and I decided to drive over to Galveston, Texas to witness the pilgrimage procession. My dad is elderly and participating in the actual walking wasn't an option. We arrived and parked on the street a couple of blocks down from St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica. There was a police presence as Mass was being said by Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, at the time we arrived.
 
Slowly the crowd gathered in the street as Mass ended. We decided to stand behind the car and waited for the procession to pass us by. Cardinal DiNardo was carrying the monstrance with a variety of clergy and uniformed protectors. I am not exactly sure who all the various gentlemen were surrounding the Cardinal and monstrance.
 
Behind was a gathering of people walking quietly and at times gently singing songs. They sounded angelic to us. It is very hard to explain the delicateness of the sights and sounds of the procession.
 
As we were taking it all in and I was photographing it all, a young Franciscan Brother who was part of the team traveling the whole distance with the Pilgrimage stepped out of the procession to speak to us. He noticed my dad's baseball cap with my dad's college alma mater on it that he had holding over his heart. It turned out the brother's grandfather also graduated from there, so we had a great discussion about that area and memories.
 
As the brother was about to depart to rejoin the group, he reached into his garment and pulled out a commemorative Pilgrimage rosary and gave it to my dad and asked if he could pray with us. I said it was perfect timing because my dad would be spending the next day at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for extensive testing because a new type of cancer had recently been diagnosed after being cured from Stage 4 cancer ten years ago.
 
The brother said a beautiful prayer and asked that Blessed Fr. Solanus Casey, who has been beatified and has healing powers, would be with my dad. When the prayer was finished, I said "You're not going to believe this, but my dad has carried a relic card in his wallet from Fr. Solanus Casey since he was first diagnosed in 2013." As I was saying this, my dad opened his wallet and displayed the relic card.
 
The brother was stunned, and he immediately pulled out his Fr. Solanus Casey’s relic card he carries. The three of us were speechless.
 
The brother suggested that they switch cards and carry each other's card going forward which they did.
 
The brother wrote down our names to pray for us and said he was so moved by the stories he was coming across on the Pilgrimage route.
 
We continue to keep the brother in our prayers and honestly, I don't believe we will ever forget this special encounter. As my dad said, there are no coincidences. I could see the peace it brought over my dad as we made the trip to Houston the next day. It was an amazingly beautiful experience. 

by Genie Packard, Night Luminaries, Lake Jackson, Texas

Our Eucharistic Procession on June 2, the Feast of Corpus Christi, was a joint effort with between neighboring parishes: St. Jerome, in Clute, Texas and St. Michael parish in Lake Jackson, Texas. Theresians Maria Macaraeg, Helen Anderson, and I were so impressed by the fervor of the Clute planners! On the day of the procession, we arrived at St. Jerome to a wonderfully festive scene of automobiles decorated with fresh flower wreaths, tulle bows on the car doors, and window flags that read "Jesus, I adore you!" The participants even wore t-shirts bearing the iconic symbol of the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance! The prayerful one-mile walking procession was followed by a police-escorted motorcade to our church, where about 300+ persons from both parishes assembled for another mile-long procession. Our Eucharistic Lord stopped to bless residents and staffers at three senior living facilities in addition to our local hospital. No one suffered from heat exhaustion, and all were exhilarated to gather in the church for Reposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The event was followed by refreshments in the hall where the joy was quite palpable. It was obvious that those who participated were deeply in love with the Lord. Jesus shared His abundant graces and blessings with us that day because we believe that He is truly present among us...truly present in the Holy Eucharist! Many thanks to Night Luminaries Donna, Morgan, Lisa, Jet, and Edna who prayed for a successful event, and to Mary, Janet, Yvonne and Traci, who helped keep participants safe in the heat of the day. I felt the intensity of His love that day, and pray that I am never separated from that love. 

by Jet Booth, Night Luminaries, Lake Jackson, Texas

JESUS IS TAKING TO THE STREETS! These are the headlines that should be hitting the national news nightly. It somehow is not but we know what is happening. The National Eucharistic Revival is happening across the USA and we have been part of this epic, historic moment in so many ways. We jumped in when our Night Luminaries community planned our theme for 2023-2024. We chose the book Beautiful Eucharist by Matthew Kelly. We shared at every gathering our insights, our readiness to get closer to Christ in the Eucharist, and to participate in the St. Juan Diego route of the Pilgrimage when it came through our area of Houston, Texas. I joined members of the Wildflowers Community in Sugarland, Texas, on May 31 for Mass and Adoration. I experienced the worst rainstorm ever that morning as I drove to the Mass. Torrential rain had me crying out loud in the car "I'm coming, Jesus!" I knew I had to make it to process with the perpetual pilgrims making their way to Indianapolis. The rain and lightning kept coming. Our hopes to witness to Jesus and see Him in the streets of Houston had to change. Our outside procession in the streets was moved inside because of the continued stormy weather. We were sad but relieved and I was still glad to participate in Adoration with a packed church of believers. On our knees we still joined all those across the USA to carry Jesus across this nation.

The revival and Pilgrimage is still going on! Theresians share your experience! Members of Night Luminaries spearheaded a procession in Lake Jackson and will comment on that experience in the next two weeks in Sacred Touchstones.

How has this revival affected me? I started out feeling tired of going through the motions at the time of communion. By praying, reading and striving with my sisters I fell in love with Adoration time before Jesus. I still struggle to really believe and surrender to Christ in His humble, hidden presence in the host and ask for more faith every time I receive Him. Instead of thinking about my grocery list or other distractions, I have become more alert, standing on tiptoe receiving HIM and trying not to receive in an empty, bored, glum way.